Show me your heart. Have you left a place for divine love? The above is a popular quote by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Sheen is an American Roman Catholic archbishop whose fame in preaching on TV and radio precede him. Seen as the first ever televangelist, his programs brought Catholicism to more than 30 million American households.
Sheen was born Fulton John Sheen in May 1895 in Illinois, Chicago. In Peoria, Illinois he served as an altar boy and years later he would be ordained into priesthood there. He attended local schools for his basic education then proceeded to Catholic University of America to further his studies in Philosophy.
After his degree, he went for his doctorate in philosophy in Belgium at the University of Leuven. While there, he became the first American to win the Cardinal Mercier prize an award seeking to recognize contribution to International Philosophy. After serving in different regions, he was ordained a bishop in New York.
Fulton began evangelism through mass media in 1930. His first show was known as Catholic Hour broadcast on radio every week on Sundays. It was right in the middle of World War II and he took advantage of the platform to preach against the war. Besides, he conducted the first ever church service on mass media. The popularity of his program among viewers won him an Emmy award.
Archbishop Fulton was not short of controversy. Perhaps the most remembered broadcast was in 1953 where he publicly denounced the regime of Joseph Stalin. Dramatically, he used the burial scene from Julius Caesar from Shakespeare to predict doom to Stalin and other Soviet leaders of the time. His last words were that Stalin should one day face his judgment. True to his word, Stalin died within the week from stroke.
Fulton faced his death as a result of a heart condition having undergone an open heart surgery in 1979. He was buried in a crypt in the cathedral he served in New York which is to blame for his delayed journey to his sainthood. Cause for canonization was begun in the year 2002 and was granted the Servant of God title. A decade later, the Vatican approved the journey towards his beatification by bestowing him the title of Venerable.
Performing a miracle is one of the prerequisite for beatification. The miracle ought to be an event that cannot be explained by any scientific techniques. For Sheen, a mother to an infant who had delivered a still born baby boy claims to have prayed to him to heal his boy. Despite the fact that the boy was in that state for 61 minutes and doctors had failed to resuscitate him, he survived and does not bear any physical or mental impairment. This case was proven to be a miracle indeed by a specialized medical team from Vatican.
Another similar miracle is necessary for him to be canonized as a saint. The process of beatification and canonization of Sheen has however been stopped indefinitely. This is because his remains have to be transported to his home church in Peoria. It is the hope of all his fans that the man who brought Catholicism to the living rooms of so many American homes is eventually canonized.
Sheen was born Fulton John Sheen in May 1895 in Illinois, Chicago. In Peoria, Illinois he served as an altar boy and years later he would be ordained into priesthood there. He attended local schools for his basic education then proceeded to Catholic University of America to further his studies in Philosophy.
After his degree, he went for his doctorate in philosophy in Belgium at the University of Leuven. While there, he became the first American to win the Cardinal Mercier prize an award seeking to recognize contribution to International Philosophy. After serving in different regions, he was ordained a bishop in New York.
Fulton began evangelism through mass media in 1930. His first show was known as Catholic Hour broadcast on radio every week on Sundays. It was right in the middle of World War II and he took advantage of the platform to preach against the war. Besides, he conducted the first ever church service on mass media. The popularity of his program among viewers won him an Emmy award.
Archbishop Fulton was not short of controversy. Perhaps the most remembered broadcast was in 1953 where he publicly denounced the regime of Joseph Stalin. Dramatically, he used the burial scene from Julius Caesar from Shakespeare to predict doom to Stalin and other Soviet leaders of the time. His last words were that Stalin should one day face his judgment. True to his word, Stalin died within the week from stroke.
Fulton faced his death as a result of a heart condition having undergone an open heart surgery in 1979. He was buried in a crypt in the cathedral he served in New York which is to blame for his delayed journey to his sainthood. Cause for canonization was begun in the year 2002 and was granted the Servant of God title. A decade later, the Vatican approved the journey towards his beatification by bestowing him the title of Venerable.
Performing a miracle is one of the prerequisite for beatification. The miracle ought to be an event that cannot be explained by any scientific techniques. For Sheen, a mother to an infant who had delivered a still born baby boy claims to have prayed to him to heal his boy. Despite the fact that the boy was in that state for 61 minutes and doctors had failed to resuscitate him, he survived and does not bear any physical or mental impairment. This case was proven to be a miracle indeed by a specialized medical team from Vatican.
Another similar miracle is necessary for him to be canonized as a saint. The process of beatification and canonization of Sheen has however been stopped indefinitely. This is because his remains have to be transported to his home church in Peoria. It is the hope of all his fans that the man who brought Catholicism to the living rooms of so many American homes is eventually canonized.
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